NewOrleansSaints.com will showcase one reason a day to get excited about the start of the 2014 New Orleans Saints Training Camp presented by Verizon. Today, No. 13 padded practices

2014 New Orleans Saints Training Camp presented by Verizon will mark the first time this year’s squad will practice in full pads.

After months of the team’s offseason program and individual workouts, players will participate in contact drills for the first time.

Sean Payton has said that players truly define themselves when contact drills begin.

“Because of the offseason changes, evaluations sometimes come a little later than earlier,” Payton said on the Black and Blue Report on May 7, 2014. “With Khiry (Robinson) for instance a year ago, there was talk and we debated whether he was going to be part of our 80 going to training camp. Fortunately, we brought him to training camp and once the pads came on he was a much different player than we expected, to his credit. It’s always good when you’re able to see a player who wasn’t drafted come in, and I think it’s good for your program.”

Camp will feature a total of 27 practices starting at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. and ending at their Metairie practice facility.

The Saints will open camp on Thursday, July 24 when players report to The Greenbrier for physicals and meetings and hold their strength and conditioning tests. The Saints will begin on-field workouts in a non-padded practice session on Friday, July 25 from 8:50-11:40 a.m. followed by a walk thru from 4:30–5:30 p.m.